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7/25/2019 Richard Kyle the Future of Comics
1/2
T H E F U T U R E O F C O M I C S
BY
RICH RD
KYLE
The 1964
column
thatintroduced Graphic Story and Graphic Novel
F
irst there werethecomic strips. They were called
comic strips because they were comic and they
werestrips. And even when a lot of them stopped
being
comic they didn't
lose
the name, tradition being
what it is
Then
there were comicbooks.They were called comic
books because of the comic strips and because they were
atleast partiallycomicand in theidiomof thepublish-
ing businesstheywerebooks.
But the
comic book stories were still called strips,
although they weren't. Then a lot of the comic books
stopped being even partially comic,or deliberately so,
anyway.That didn't make
any
difference, they were still
called comic books and they still published strips.
After
all,
they were still prettycartoony,you had to admit, and
Kurtzman,
editing
and
writing
the
company's
war
maga-
zines, brought an authenticity and realism and great ar-
tistic creativity to some of the stories that no child could
have appreciatedbut
which would have electrified
many
intelligent adults, if they'd permitted themselves to
read comic
books.
However, in the state of almost universal literacy in
which
we
live,
to be
able
to
read
is no
longer
an
hon-
est-to-goodnessstatus symbol. Like the automobile, it is
commonplace, and few people, any more, need to look at
thepi'turesto figure out what the little black bugs mean.
Consequently, thereislittle shame attachedto theread-
ing
of
comic strips themselves;
the
shame, these days,
is
the
frequentalmost universalchildishness
of the
con-
tents,which only devoted and understanding enthusiasts
7/25/2019 Richard Kyle the Future of Comics
2/2
booksare nolongeranimportant sourceofrevenuefor
the
retailer. They're also a headache for the wholesale
distributor,consuming almostasmuch timeinhandling
as
they make
in
sales. Many distributors have ceased
to
supply the retail stands by title, sending out a random
bundle of twenty-five or fiftycomics instead. Withthe
competition
the
magazine rack faces from
the
other
en-
tertainmentmedia thesedays,
the
situation
is
bound
to get
worse.Theonlysolutionfor thecomic book publishersis
to
increase
the
price
of
their magazines. Obviously,
the
juvenile
market does not have the money to compete with
the Playboy or
True
or
Argosy
or
Ellery
Queen s Mystery
Magazine
orAnalog
Science Fiction
adult market.But to
reach
that market
and its
money, adult stories will have
to
bepublishedin
those
"coaaei>oeks>^
As
I
read such stories
as
"Killer Hunt,"
inCapt.Storm
andadmirethe art of JoeKubert,andre-read theKurtz-
man
and Krigsteinstoriesin the old
E.G.
magazines,and
as I thinkof Fantasy
lllustrated s
forthcoming"comic
book
strip" adaptation
of Ray
Bradbury's story
"The
Pedestrian"which
has
opened,
by the
way,
as a
highly
laudedplayhereinLosAngelesIcannot
help
butfeelthat
"comic book" and "comic book
strip"
are not only in-
appropriate
and
antiquated terms with which
to
describe
these genuinely creative
efforts and
those
of the
even
more
fully
realized productions which are bound to
come,
but are also terms which may easily prevent the early ac-
ceptance of the medium by the literary world.
Charles Biro coined
the
word
"illustrories"to
describe
his attempts at adult "comic book
strips."
E.G. coined
"picto-fiction"
for a somewhat similar
effort.
But I believe
there
is a
good word, already
in the
dictionary, which does
a far better job than either of these. My Merriam-Webster
defines"graphic"
as "of orpertaining to thearts (graphic
arts)ofpainting, engravingand anyother arts which per-
tainto the expression ofideasby means of lines, marks,
or characters impressed
on a
surface."
So, infutureissuesof Wonderworld,whenyou find me
using
the
-terms
"graphic
story"and-
J
"graphic
novel
;
-te-
describe the
artistically serious
"comic
book strip," you'll
know what I mean. I may even use them on some that
aren't
so
serious.
"The
Future"first
appeared in
Richard
Kyle s
Wonderworld 2[FirstSeries],
fo r th e November 1964m ail ing of Capa-Alpha
the
comics
amateur
press
association
Pages 3,4